


The Ringmaster

by psiten



Series: SASO 2016 Fills [22]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Challenge: Sports Anime Shipping Olympics | SASO 2016, Established Relationship, Glitter Bombs, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, POV Outsider, Presents, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 03:43:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13472991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psiten/pseuds/psiten
Summary: Original Prompt:Package: a mysterious white mailing tube with a red cap*To: Monkey KingFrom: RyomaNote: saw this and thought of youThe Atobe Group has a great deal of security on the family heir, attempting to protect him from dangers both expected and unexpected, but the one person they can't protect Atobe from is himself -- and really, it's better not to try.* - This text originally linked to the website for Ultimate Glitter Bombs, but my anti-virus scanner found some suspicious code on the site just now, so I'm not going to encode the actual link here. I think that would violate whatever the IT professional's version of the Hippocratic Oath is.





	The Ringmaster

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hyperrael](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyperrael/gifts).



     Acting as head of security to Atobe Keigo was a job few people could tolerate. He, Kinoshita Kabeo, had been hired five years ago, his charge's freshman year of high school, to manage all of the young master's bodyguards after the previous commander requested transfer back to the father's detail. That man had cited the young master's inability to listen to reason as the cause behind his request -- in their confidential debriefing, of course, as no one in the Atobe family service would ever make that complaint to the family directly -- and in the last five years, Kinoshita had learned what he meant.

     If the young master meant to do something, he would not be naysaid. Tell him that his safety was at stake, and he would laugh, insisting that he could see all dangers, and as such danger was nothing to him. It was, legitimately, infuriating if for no other reason than that he appeared to be correct. He did seem to have some kind of miraculous insight that allowed him to navigate the most insecure of situations with perfect safety. Any security officer would feel frustrated and superfluous dealing with a privileged heir to the greatest commercial empire in Japan who would shake off all sensible recommendations to walk through fire -- and always come out unscathed, this offering not even so much as the scant reward of being able to say, "I told you so".

     Luckily, Kinoshita Kabeo was not a security officer. Before coming here, he'd been the ringmaster of the circus owned by the head of the Atobe empire, and quite a good one at that -- under a different name, of course. He knew the difference between a reckless man and one who knew what he was doing, and Atobe Keigo clearly knew what he was doing. He was perfectly capable of standing by to watch the spectacle, while also arranging adequate security and emergency services in the unlikely event that something went wrong. As such, when he was alerted about the suspicious package in the mail screening room, it was hardly a surprise that he met the young master on his way down to examine the situation. Atobe Keigo would've made a fair mentalist on the stage with his ability to read the supposedly unreadable.

     "Sir," Kinoshita said. "I take it you believe this suspicious package is nothing to worry about?"

     The young master's smile was, like any showman's, nothing short of incandescent. "Is that what's behind all this rushing and whispering?! Ha! We'll see about that!"

     Kinoshita held open the door, giving the terrified men inside enough time to say, "Thank goodness you're here! It looks like--!"

     Then they saw the young master walk in, first as always, and their faces went pale. Such ideal dramatic timing! It was honestly too bad the boy would be relegated to the board room once he'd finished with college. Such a showman!

     "Now, what is at issue here?" the young master announced.

     A tray rolled forward, carrying a large white mailing tube with red end caps. The addressee was "Monkey King", which of course no one would have bothered passing along to the young master if the sender hadn't been listed as one Echizen Ryoma with postage all the way from New York City. One barely need five weeks in Atobe Keigo's retinue before understanding that it was a fond nickname, after a fashion, let alone the five years he'd served. The message on the address label, "Saw this and thought of you," did bode ill, of course, given that this was Echizen, but Kinoshita sensed there was more to this. That wasn't enough to be worth delaying the young master's mail. He narrowed his eyes at the gentleman pushing the cart to ask for an explanation.

     "Our scanning equipment indicated that the contents are under extreme pressure, and are potentially explosive, sir. We were worried that the sender's name might be a forgery, intended to get a dangerous explosive past security."

     "Nonsense," Kinoshita countered, handing his young charge the package. "A forger could never hope to duplicate the handwriting of our young master's _delicate flower_ without Keigo-bocchama detecting the substitution!"

     Indeed, Keigo took one glance at the writing, and the utterly unpolitical smile reserved for Echizen's antics took over his face. How the tabloids failed to notice that glow when the tennis phenom was in town was beyond Kinoshita's ability to guess, yet all the newspaper writers continued to make hypotheses on when the heir to the Atobe Empire, Japan's most eligible bachelor, would choose a lucky bride. Had all the good reporters left the business for good? For shame, really.

     The young man turned the mailing tube over several times, as if deciding the best way to open it. "Quite right, Kinoshita. I would know Echizen's hand anywhere. And this -- have no doubt, my friends -- is from none other than my beloved. I shall open it at once!"

     The five people on staff in the mail room jerked upright even before the young master pulled out the red stopper. Their faces were pale, no doubt wondering if today was the day Atobe Keigo's luck ran out. They could never quite grasp what Kinoshita knew, that his boldness was never reckless, and his successes were never luck. He knew exactly what he was doing. The crack of the explosions that erupted from the mailing tube sounded like rapid gunfire, but Kinoshita never looked away, which meant he got to see the beatific joy on the young master's face when a storm of blue and silver glitter exploded in his face, engulfing the entire room in a flurry of shimmering chaos.

     No wonder the boyfriend had thought of their young master. Shimmering chaos was quite apt for the life he chose to live.

     Cleaning staff appeared as if from thin air to begin sweeping the glitter off the floor and dust it out of machinery. They were quite adept at such things. Security personnel who were all too glad to get back to their lives, a bit rattled but none the worse for it, let the staff with hose attachments on their vacuums clean off their suits and their hair. Atobe Keigo, however, stood as if in a trance, gazing into the air as if the glitter were still falling, and to be fair it was still falling in those places where it'd gotten stuck on a high shelf and the present activity knocked it loose. But he stood stock-still while the servants created a new flurry around him, breathing in a comically long breath, and breathing out for twice as long. Ah, to be young and completely besotted.

     All at once, the young master pulled the small, red phone out of his pocket (as opposed to any of the others), peaceful joy becoming a grin while he waited for the ringing on the other end to become a voice.

     "Hello?" said a surly tone Kinoshita could barely hear across the distance.

     "Echizen. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you," the young master said in perfect English.

     "Pride and Prejudice. You know she said no to him, right?"

     "So did you, at first. It's quite perfect."

     "I guess this means you got my package."

     "I believe its contents will be stuck in my hair for at least a week."

     "Ah, your board of trustees goons won't care. They've met you."

     Kinoshita could verify this. Everyone on staff and on the many boards where the young master sat in to learn what his place would be had long since learned to overlook such things as a bit of glitter here and there.


End file.
